Chapter 526: Godfather

Nero arrived the following week with permission.

Actual permission.

Dean knew because he had personally received the message from him the previous evening, asking whether Saturday afternoon would be acceptable, how long Theodore usually tolerated visitors before becoming tired, and whether Arion had developed any additional rules since the last family visit.

Dean had stared at the screen for several seconds before showing it to his husband.

Arion had read the message twice.

Then he looked suspicious.

"He wants something."

Dean laughed.

"He wants to see Theo."

"He has never been this polite in his life."

"That is not true."

Arion raised one eyebrow.

Dean considered several years of evidence.

"Fine. He can be sensible when sufficiently motivated."

Apparently, Theodore qualified.

Nero arrived shortly after three with Dax and Chris, and for once there was no dramatic entrance, no unannounced vehicle passing through palace security, and no prince appearing in a private sitting room because he had somehow convinced half the guards that ordinary procedure did not apply to him.

Hale even remained with the security detail outside.

Dean almost wondered whether they had brought the wrong Nero.

The Crown Prince of Saha entered wearing dark trousers and a deep-purple shirt beneath a fitted black coat, his long white-blond hair tied loosely at the nape, and stopped several steps inside the family room rather than approaching immediately.

Dax came behind him in a dark charcoal suit without a tie, silver beginning to obviously through his pale hair now, while Chris wore a soft black sweater and light trousers that made the visit look considerably more domestic than diplomatic.

Which it was.

Theo was awake in Arion’s arms.

That alone was enough to silence all three of them.

Dean sat on the sofa nearby, watching the exact moment Nero’s usual amusement disappeared.

"Oh," Nero said.

Arion looked immediately pleased with himself.

Dean smiled.

"That was Ariana’s reaction too."

Nero ignored both of them and moved closer, slowly enough that Theo had plenty of time to notice him.

Theodore’s gold eyes followed the unfamiliar movement.

Nero stopped beside Arion.

For several seconds, he simply looked.

Theo looked back.

Then his eyes turned black.

Nero smiled.

"There you are."

Arion’s expression changed slightly.

Dean noticed that too.

Nero had been one of the few people outside the immediate family who had known about Theodore’s eyes before seeing them in person, and if the black color reminded him of the transformed beasts, he gave no indication that he found it disturbing.

Instead, he extended one finger.

Theo stared at it and wrapped his hand around it.

Nero went very still.

Dax laughed quietly behind him.

"Oh, you’re finished."

Nero glanced back.

"I am perfectly fine."

"You have the same expression Arion had."

Arion looked offended.

"I did not have an expression."

Dean and Chris laughed at the same time.

Nero turned his attention back to Theodore, and when Arion finally transferred the baby into his arms, he did so with far more care than Dean had expected from someone who had once nudged an infected beast with his boot because he was bored.

Nero adjusted Theo against his chest, supported his head correctly without being reminded, and lowered his pheromonal output until Dean could barely register him.

Dean watched with growing amusement.

"You researched this."

Nero looked toward him.

"No."

"You absolutely researched this."

"I have held children before."

Dax crossed his arms.

"Name one."

Nero was silent.

Chris smiled.

"He researched it."

Nero ignored them.

Theo, apparently satisfied with the arrangement, continued holding one of Nero’s fingers while examining the silver chain visible at the open collar of his shirt.

Dean leaned toward Arion.

"He really wants that godfather position."

Arion sighed.

That particular decision had already been made.

There had never been much real competition.

Nero had been campaigning shamelessly since before Theodore was born, but beneath the jokes and the absurdly expensive gifts, both Dean and Arion knew exactly why the choice made sense. Nero was close enough to them to understand the private parts of their family without treating them as political information, powerful enough to protect Theodore if circumstances ever demanded it, and stubborn enough that Dean suspected death itself would struggle to prevent him from showing up when needed.

Nobody who knew them had been surprised when Dean and Arion finally confirmed it.

Nero had responded with a single message.

Obviously.

Then another.

I already bought the ceremonial gift.

Dean had not asked how long he had owned it.

He did not want to know.

Chris sat beside Dean while Dax moved closer to Arion.

"He’s bigger than the photographs make him look."

Dean smiled.

"He finally discovered food."

Chris looked toward him.

"You say that like he wasn’t eating before."

"You didn’t see him when he was born."

The humor softened automatically.

At thirty-three weeks, Theo had been so small that every gram mattered, and although those weeks in neonatal care already felt strangely distant, Dean still remembered the fear too clearly to joke about them for long.

Chris understood without explanation.

"He looks good now."

"He is."

That was enough.

Dax, meanwhile, had reached Theo and was watching him over Nero’s shoulder with a faint smile.

"The first one."

Arion looked toward him.

Dax nodded toward Theodore.

"Otto’s first grandchild."

Dean had thought about that more than once.

Arion was Otto’s fourth child, and with such a large family it should perhaps have been statistically unlikely that his son would arrive first, yet none of the older siblings had children of their own.

Theo had simply beaten everyone to it.

"He knows," Dean said. "Otto reminds us approximately every other day."

Chris laughed.

"Is he unbearable?"

"Completely."

Arion glanced toward Dean.

"He bought Theo a ceremonial riding saddle."

Dax stared.

"The child is three months old."

"It is apparently for later."

Chris covered his face.

Dean smiled.

"Minerva told him the same thing."

"And?"

"He bought it anyway."

Theo made a soft sound from Nero’s arms.

Everyone immediately looked toward him.

Theodore blinked once, his eyes returning to gold, then opened his mouth in a large yawn that made Nero smile so openly Dean almost wanted to take a photograph purely for future blackmail.

Instead, he let the moment remain private.

Dax was eventually allowed to hold him next.

Unlike Nero, he did not pretend indifference.

He accepted Theodore carefully, settled him against one arm, then studied him with an expression that made Dean think of the stories Arion had told about Dax knowing him since childhood, before either of them had become the men they were now.

Theo stared back at him.

Dax touched one finger lightly beneath his chin.

"You have no idea what kind of family you were born into."

Chris leaned closer.

"That is probably for the best."

"Give him a year."

"Dax."

"What? Arion was causing trouble by eight."

Arion looked toward him.

"I was infected by eight."

"Yes, and somehow still difficult."

Dean laughed.

Theo startled slightly at the sound, then smiled.

Not at anyone in particular.

Just because there were voices, familiar pheromones, warm arms, and far more attention than one three-month-old child reasonably needed.

Nero immediately looked triumphant.

"He smiled at me."

"He was looking at Dax," Arion said.

"He knew I was here."

Dean rested his head against Arion’s shoulder.

"This is going to be his entire childhood, isn’t it?"

"Yes."

Across the room, Nero was already arguing that godfathers should receive priority visiting rights.

Dax disagreed on principle.

Chris was laughing.

Theo appeared delighted.

Dean smiled too.

For a child who had spent his first weeks surrounded by machines and restricted contact, Theodore had developed an impressive talent for collecting people around him.

And apparently, none of them intended to leave.